Almost half of young people aim to work in just 10 different roles

Children’s job aspirations have changed little in 20 years, according to an international report.

Almost half of young people aspire to work in just 10 careers – despite a changing world and fastpaced advances in technology, it said.

The report, by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), said the career expectations of youngsters around the world may be “out of date and unrealistic”.

Andreas Schleicher, the OECD’s director of education and skills, said young people need to be exposed to the workplace and potential careers from primary school age.

Using data from the OECD’s Programme for International Student Assessment ( Pisa), researchers looked at how job expectations of 15-year-olds in 41 countries, including the UK, have changed over time.

It found the proportion of teenagers expecting to work in one of the 10 most common jobs by the age of 30 has concentrated.

Based on 2018 data, 47% of boys and 53% of girls across the 41 nations expected to work in one of these 10 professions – increases of eight points for boys and four for girls since 2000.

The top 10 occupations cited by girls in 2000 were teacher, doctor, lawyer, psychologist, nursing and midwifery, business manager, vet, writer/journalist, secretary, and hairdresser.

In 2018 the list was doctor, teacher, business manager, lawyer, nursing and midwifery, psychologist, designer, vet, police officer, and architect.

The top 10 cited by boys in 2000 were business manager, ICT professional, engineer, doctor, sportsman, teacher, lawyer, mechanic, architect, and police officer.

In 2018 the list was engineer, business manager, doctor, ICT professional, sportsman, teacher, police officer, mechanic, lawyer, and architect.

The report said: “The analysis provides new insight into just how concentrated the career expectations of 15- year- olds have become. This is a matter of concern.”